Abdul Hamid Ben Badis (1889-1940) and Discourse on Development
Abdul Hamid Ben Badis was not only a well-known spiritual leader in Algerian
modern History, but was also a political
and an intellectual leader.
Considering the above qualifications Ben Badis had a real interest in
the development of his country as well as the Muslim World.
When Ben Badis appeared on the scene
Algeria was a colonized country. This colonization was different from other countries
as France considered Algeria part of France. The Algerians were suffering from
backwardness while the French community was enjoying all the benefits of their
mother country.
It was the responsibility of Ben Badis
and other leaders of Algeria to contemplate on the question of development. No
doubt that the influence of the Jamaluddin Al-Afghani and Muhammad Abdu had
reached Algeria through “ Al-Manar ” and other writing on the question of
development.
Ben Badis dwelling on this wealth of
literature and his deep understanding of Al-Quran wrote extensively of the
issue of development. He went about dealing with this issue on three levels:
his exegesis of the Quranic texts, his
practical steps to promote development and his refuting the claims that
Wsternization is a prerequisite of development.
Historian writing on Modern History of Algeria either overlooked the
writing and activities of Ben Badis or distorted his efforts and the those of
the Association of Algerian Muslim Ulemas or denied that Ben Badis had any
clear discourse on development.
The aim of this paper is to bring to light
the efforts of Ben Badis and the Association of Algerian Ulemas. During
his presidency of this association for
the first nine years of its life his work was concentrated around helping to
assist the Algerians to set foot on the road toward development in all fields.
It also plans to provide information about the beautiful understanding of Ben
Badis of The Quranic verses that dealt with the issue of development. Moreover
this paper will try to prove that Ben Badis was envisioning a distinctive type of development for the
Algerian from the development of Europe.
Therefore it is necessary for the Muslim
World in his strife for development to understand the insights of such leaders.
The Example set by Ben Badis has not been
given
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